trine of atonement is not repugnant to reason, and therefore ought not to be considered as invalidating the truth of the gospel. The Right Reverend preacher acknowledges that his opinion "leans to that of those who give a literal rather than a figurative interpretation to those texts which represent Christ, as laying down his life for the sheep, as purchasing the church with his blood, as putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself." He however, with his accustomed candour observes, that there are many other men, both in this and in other countries, of great piety, probity, and learning, who reject a literal interpretation as irreconcileably hostile to the justice, the benignity, and the holiness of the Almighty;" and he adds the following liberal and important advice to his audience :- "Both of these two classes of Christians cannot be free from error, for two contradictory propositions cannot both be true; but it is not, I trust, a profane presumption, to hope that both of them may, in the sight of God, be free from blanie. He, and He alone, knows the extent of our individual talents, the strength of our prejudices, the rise and progress of our habits of thinking; and therefore He, and He alone, can tell to whom the inBocence or the culpability of error is justly to be imputed. "Suffer me, in conclusion, to exhort you, not to permit a diversity in opinion, on this or on any other religious doctrine to generate in you, either an indifference to sophy, in every branch of human learning. "In natural philosophy, in moral philoas well as in revealed religion, difficulties, occasioning diversities of opinion, subsist; but he would be a bad logician, who should infer that nothing was certain because something was questionable in each of them-that facts could not be esta blished, because opinions could not be reconciled. "The truth of the Christian religion is in the fact of the resurrection of Christ; founded in historical facts, and especially of the truth of past facts men may, by proper investigation, become competent judges, though they may not be able to comprehend the depth of the riches and wisdom of God,' in having delivered up Jesus to be crucified and slain by wicked hands. "The religious disputes which have for so many ages disturbed the peace of the christian world, respect the modes and circumstances of things, rather than matters essential to the working out our salvation. Whilst we believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dad, and that we also shall be raised from the dead, and male to give an account of our conduct, we are impelled by the strongest motives to the practice of holiness, without which we cannot see the Lord.'" Whether the Bishop's previous reasoning produced conviction or not, we hope this truly christian counsel made its due impression. ART. XV. The Propagation of Christianity was not indebted to any Secondary Causes A Prize Essay, published in Pursuance of the Will of the Rev. J. HULSE, of St John's College, Cambridge. By the Rev. SAMUEL BERNEY Vince, B. A. Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. 8vo. pp. $7. THE writer of this essay contends, that the religious and moral state of the world at the appearance of Christ, was not favourable to the reception of the pure doctrines which that religion inculcated; yet that the enlightened state of the human intellect was such, that no imposture could expect to succeed that those who were first engaged in the propaga tion of the gospel, were not qualified to command respect, or enforce obedience on account of their rank in life, civil authority, or education; and that while they used no Violent measures to extend the inAluence of the gospel, it was constantly and vigorously opposed by the powers of the earth. These topics, it will be perceived, are not new, and the essayist has not treated them with distinguished ability. ART. XVI. The beneficial Effects of the Christian Temper in Domestic Happiness. 8vo. pp. 91. THIS very respectable and useful publication, was suggested by the Bishop of London's admirable treatise, entitled "The beneficial effects of Christianity on the temporal concerns of Mankind." The author lamented that in addition to the able statement of the public benefits of Christianity on these concerns, the pious prelate had not carried its precepts and beneficial tendency into domestic life, and shewn how it might be made the source of our private comforts and enjoyments." To supply this deficiency, and thus to increase the evidence for the truth and excellence of the gospel, is the design of this tract, and it cannot fail of accomplishing this good design, DOCTRINAL AND CONTROVERSIAL THEOLOGY. ART. XVII. The Grounds on which the Church of England separated from the Church of Rome, stated in a Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Durham, at the ordinary Visitation of that Diocese, in the Year 1806. By SHUTE, Bishop of Durham. 12mo. pp. 23. ART. XVIII. Remarks on a Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Durham, &c. &c. Second Edition, enlarged and interspersed with a few cursory Remarks on his (the Bishop's) Sermon before the Lords, Anno 1799. 12mo. pp. 52. ART. XIX. A Letter to the Author of "Remarks on a Charge, &c. &c." By a Clergyman of the Diocese of Durham. 12mo. pp. 42. ART. XX. A Vindication of the Remarks on the Charge of the Bishop of Durham, in Answer to a Letter from a Clergyman of the Diocese of Durham. 12mo. pp. 57. IN the charge which has given rise to this controversy, the Bishop of Durham thus stated the reasons of the separation of the church of England from the church of Rome: Our church separated from the Romanists, because the doctrines and ordinances of their church were derogatory-1. From the honour of God the Father; 2. From the mediatorship of the Son; and 3. From the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit: 4. Because by authorizing the sale of indulgences and pardons, they encouraged the most scandalous irregularities of life: 5. Because both by performing the services of the church in Latin, and by locking up the scriptgres in the same language, they violated the express command of holy writ, and obstructed the dif fusion of Christian knowledge.-→→ Under these different heads are introduced specific charges respecting idolatry, the suppression of the second command in the decalogue, praying to the Virgin Mary, to angels and to saints, transubstantiation, the denial of the cup to the laity, &c. &c. charges which Protestants have advanced, and Romanists attempted to repel, ever since the days of the Reformation. These would scarcely have been noticed at present, we presume, had they not been urged by such high authority, speaking e cathedrá, and adapted, if not designed, to increase the jealousies which, for political purposes, have been lately excited against the Catholics. They have therefore provoked the remarks of a keen and sensible writer, whose talents are worthy of a better cause. Some of the positions of the Bishop he has clearly proved to be erroneous, and some of his arguments he has very successfully turned against himself. The Bishop's friend, the clergy. man, who has done little more than enlarge upon the topics first advanced by his diocesan, has fared no better in the hands of the vindicator-the remarker undoubtedly, under another name. The controversy will appear curious to an indifferent sp ctator, who is attached more to the word of God than to human creeds and confessions; and the inferences which he will readily deduce from it will be neither few nor unimportant. Other tracts we believe have been published on both sides, which have not come to our hands. ART. XXI. The Romish Church; or an historical and critical View of some of the leading Doctrines of the Church of Rome, in a Series of Discourses preached at Bishopwearmouth, in the Year 1806, bring a Compilation from Secker and Others, interwoven with the Sentiments and Remarks of the Preacher, and containing a Reply to Mr. Des Mahis's Book, entitled "The Truth of the Catholic Religion proved from the Holy Scriptures." with Notes. By the Rev. GEORGE STEPHENSON, M. A. Vicar of Kelloe, Curate of Bishopwearmouth, &c. 8vo. pp. 441. in Christendom, are exposed from the Catholic. ac THIS preacher must be considered as a partizan in the preceding controversy. The Bishop's charge suggested the plan of these discourses, the topics in that charge are here treated much more at large, and very liberal use, according to the writer's own knowledgement, is made of the prior labours of others. The same errors into which the prelate had fallen, particularly respecting the suppression of the second commandment in the decalogue, are here repeated; and the same weak attempts to obviate the retorts to which even the advocates of what is boastingly styled the purest church We gladly close our remarks in the words of the sensible writer, who in this controversy has taken the Catholic side. At parting, I may be allowed to add one observation. That at a time when every arm should be united, (read raised) to repel the common enemy, it is folly to disturb unanimity by disseminating religious discord. Of those who have thought proper to adopt such conduct, I may applaud the intention, but I must condemn the bigotry. They may be friends to the church in their hearts: their pens are its most dangerous enemies." ART. XXII. A Scriptural Lecture on Heads; or the Triumphs of Grace Divine in Jesus Christ, the Second Man-the Lord from Heaven, over all the Evils of the First Man, who is of the Earth, earthy. To which is added a supplementary Address to Mr. Robert Winter, on his late Sermon, preached and published, entitled "Future Punishments of endless Duration." By a NEIGHBOUR. 8vo. pp. 100, THIS is the work of some benevolent rhapsodist, who appears better acquainted with the spirit, than with the doctrines of the gospel. The heads upon which he reads this scriptural lecture, as he upposes it to be, are Adam the first head, in whom all became mortal, and Jesus the second head, in whom all without any exception, shall live. To one who thus considers universal restoration as the grand doctrine of the New Testament, Mr. Winter's sermon must be highly displeasing, and the preacher is here furnished with some instruction from a plain man which he seems to want, and some good advice to which he will do well to take heed. ART. XXIII. An Examination of the Passages contained in the Gospels, and other Books of the New Testament, respecting the Person of Jesus: with Observations arising from them. By J. SMITH, Gent. 8vo. pp. 144. "WHOEVER has the curiosity," says the author, "to look into the following pages, will please to consider them as put together for the satisfaction of the writer's own mind, and as designed to express the particular opinion of a private individual, respecting the person of Jesus." This opinion is, that Jesus was a man like other men, sin only excepted, or in other words, "that there is but one only God that his spirit is not a substance distinct from Him, and that Jesus Christ, to whom divinity was very intimately united, is his son, in virtue of that union." p. 140.Whatever may be thought of the result of Mr. Smith's enquiries, no one can disapprove of the mode in which he has pursued them, and all must commend the candid and liberal spirit in which that result is communicated to the public. And we have no hesitation in saying with this writer, that "whoever desires to understand what the scriptures teach concerning the person of Jesus, may find advantage in perusing these pages, although he may not agree with the author in the conclusion he has drawn." We have reason to believe that the author of this very respectable publication, appears before the public under an assumed name. ART. XXIV. A Letter to the Rev. Francis Stone, M. A. Rector of Cold Norton, Essex; in Reply to his Sermon preached at the Visitation at Danbury, on the 8th of July, 1806. By the Rev. EDWARD NARES, M. A. Rector of Biddenden, Kent. 8vo. pp. 70. WE never could approve of the sermon which has given occasion to this letter, whether we considered the topics upon which the preacher insisted, or the manner in which those topics were treated. We perceived that whilst he was intent upon attacking the errors of others, he was not sufficiently careful to guard himself. The pamphlet now before us, justifies the opinion we had thus formed. Mr. Nares comes not unprepared for the attack. The sermon was much indebted to Mr. Jones's developement, and the answerer of Mr. Stone avows himself the author of the review of that work in the British Critic. From his own stores therefore, from Bishop Bull, from Horsley, and even from Andrew Fuller, Mr. Nares has borrowed his present armour; but we cannot flatter him with having won the field. An' impartial umpire will withhold the palm from both. Mr. Stone has chosen one of the worst points of the Unitarianism which some have adopted; and Mr. Nares has in reply repeated much that has been urged and answered again and again. We did not expect to find Mr. Nares appealing to seventytwo Jews, as authors of the Alexandrine version! Aar. XXV. The Universal Church: an Essay on Nature, as the universal Basis of Truth, Perfection, and Salvation, and their Universality; and on Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, as the unbounded Attributes of the First Cause. 8vo. pp. 57. WE have made several attempts to comprehend this curious production, in order that we might present to our readers some clear view of its nature and design; but all in vain. Those who are fond of mystery and nonsense, may repair to No. 2, Queen's-head passage, Paternoster-row, and purchase the Universal Church, in the pe rusal of which we wish them all imaginable success. ART. XXVI. Mistakes in Religion exposed rius. By the late Rev. H. VENN, M. A. 12mo. THE great object of this work is to shew the importance of preaching, in season and out of season, the comfortable doctrines of Cal vinism. These doctrines are all found by this sagacious author in that part of the first chapter of an Essay on the Prophecy of Zachar Author of the Complete Duty of Man, Luke, in which the prophecy of Zacharias is recorded. The misrepresentation of scriptural language necessary for this purpose, is equalled only by the censorious and anti-christian spirit which pervades the whole of this little volume. ART. XXVII. Methodism condemned by Methodist Preachers; or a Vindication of the Doctrines contained in Two Sermons on Justificatio by Faith, and the Witness of the Spirit; for which the Author was expelled from the Methodist Connection. By JOSEPH COOKE, 12mo. pp. 280. Mr. COOKE had taught in the sermons alluded to in this title, "that in whatever moment a sinner returns to God, according to the requisitions of the gospel, God accepts that sinner, and his wrath no longer abides upon him; or in other words, that the sinner is justified, and that, whether he has any com fortable persuasion of it in his own mind, or not." For this he was cited before the Conference (the Methodistical Inquisition) and though he offered to prove that he had taught nothing which was not con Apr. XXVIII. Two Sermons on Justification, preached before the University of Cambridge. By the Rev. T. P. WHITE, A. M. Fellow of Queen's College. Svo. pp. 47. IN the first of these sermons, the preacher undertakes to shew, that justification cannot be obtained by works alone, nor by works added to faith, but by faith only. In the second he endeavours to ob. tiate the objections that must necessarily arise to this doctrine, and to shew that saving faith must ever be accompanied by good works as its proper fruit, though of no avail to recommend those who perform |